Acting

A fairly famous scene from a fairly famous movie that I have long loved:

What I particularly love about this scene comes at the point where Luke asks about “Obi-Wan Kenobi” (at 3:15 on the video above). There’s a beautiful synergy between Alec Guinness’ facial reaction (before he says any lines), the way the soundtrack kicks in, and even the way the camera moves ever so slightly out and up, suggesting the impact on Obi-Wan of hearing that name. The soundtrack at this point is wonderful, suggesting (to my ears at least) an air of something both exciting and mysterious. Even as a child, I knew this moment was special.

This scene does a great job of helping to evoke the existence of a wider universe (something the original Star Wars in general is great at, hinting at a much wider universe than it’s telling us about). But more importantly, it gives the right feel and weight to this moment, because this is the point at which something mythic kicks in. Sure, exciting stuff has happened (the opening, the Droids escape and so on), but this is the point at which the story isn’t just about a Galactic Empire and political rebels, but the force, the Jedi and everything else enters the story. And this is the point that Luke himself receives his “call to adventure”.

It’s no secret that Star Wars has heavy overlap and was likely directly influenced by Joseph Campbell’s ideas of the monomyth or “Hero’s Journey”. In this schema, the “call to adventure” is precisely the point at which the hero learns (often via a wise mentor) of something beyond their mundane world and is summoned to act in this new realm. The call is often refused at first (as indeed Luke tries to too), but once that call is accepted, there is no going back to that former world. And – while there is more to come right after this scene, including Obi-Wan telling Luke the truth (“from a certain point of view”) about his father and presenting him with his lightsaber, this little scene manages to capture the atmosphere of such a moment, the point at which Luke learns of a new, mysterious world and begins his hero’s journey. It’s a fantastic moment that continues to stand out.

And then I remember with some amusement that this was made by the same man who gave us the prequels and Howard the Duck…